Solons to face ethics complaint for SONA protest

MANILA, Philippines — Seven members of the House of Representatives' Makabayan bloc face a formal complaint for staging a "silent protest" inside the hall where President Benigno Aquino III delivered his State of the Nation Address.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo on Monday said he instructed his lawyers to draft the complaint to be filed before the House ethics committee to question the move by left-leaning representatives.

"We will review the footage tonight and from there we will decide how we will make the complaint," Castelo said late Monday in a state news report.

He said lawmakers consider the chamber where Aquino gave his final SONA sacred under House rules. Protest actions can instead be aired outside the plenary hall.

The party-list bloc led by Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares and joined by Representatives Carlas Zarate of Bayan Muna,  Emmi de Jesus and Luz Ilagan of Gabriela, Teri Ridon of Kabataan, Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis and Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers staged the protest right after Aquino finished delivering his final SONA.

The lawmakers unfurled banners carrying several messages including "pork barrel king," "tuta ng Kano," "mapang-aping asendero," "human rights violator," and "serbisyo palpak."

Ridon, meanwhile, defended the move and said it was part of the group's obligation "as representatives of the poor and the marginalized sectors to speak truth to power."

"On part of the Makabayan bloc, we believe that the flash protest was very well within the boundary of our constitutional right to air our grievances," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

He added the issues they raised are concerns Aquino failed to mention in his speech.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who presided over the joint Congress session for the SONA, admitted he felt ashamed by the protest.

In a radio interview on Tuesday, Belmonte said the move surprised him as it was made by his "own people."

He also clarified that the boos heard on the live broadcast of the SONA was directed to the protesting solons, and not a response to the president's speech.